Chelsea's poor run of form continued on Saturday afternoon as the Blues suffered a 2-1 defeat against Brighton at Stamford Bridge. The west Londoners took the lead through Conor Gallagher but the Seagulls took all three points after Danny Welbeck and Julio Enciso compounded Chelsea's misery of late.
Todd Boehly was spotted marching down the tunnel at Stamford Bridge and into the home dressing room following the defeat. The American billionaire decided to replace Graham Potter with Frank Lampard on an interim basis earlier this month, but the Blues are yet to show any sign of improvement under the club legend.
Chelsea fans are getting used to being disappointed at Stamford Bridge this term and Boehly is under immense pressure to appoint the perfect boss at the end of the season. Julian Nagelsmann is a serious contender to become Potter's successor ahead of next season but the Blues will not rush the process of appointing a new manager, football.london understands.
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With that being said, football.london takes a look at how the national media reacted to yet another shocking result for the Blues.
Frank Lampard's Chelsea homecoming was ruined by Brighton as they came from behind to win 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon.
The Blues enjoyed a perfect start through Conor Gallagher. The academy graduate's first-time effort from the edge of the area took a touch off of Lewis Dunk and looped over Robert Sanchez in the Brighton goal. Danny Welbeck headed home a deserved equaliser for the Seagulls shortly before the break. After a whole host of chances, Julio Enciso fired home a stunning goal with 20 minutes remaining to secure another memorable victory for Roberto De Zerbi's side.
Chelsea were awful for large swaths of Saturday afternoon's showdown and had their goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga to thank for not being on the end of a heavy defeat. The Spaniard produced a series of eye-catching stops to keep the visitors at bay for the majority of the clash.
It was always going to take something special to beat Kepa on Saturday and that is exactly what Julio Enciso came up with. Intriguingly, the Paraguayan was also introduced as a substitute for the injured Joel Veltman.
It took him slightly longer than Welbeck to have his impact but it was arguably more memorable. The 19-year-old had never scored a Premier League goal before but not that you'd have known it as he lashed in a firecracker from 25 yards.
Both of these teams were playing their final game before upcoming, season-defining occasions. Only one will go into theirs lifted by events at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea host Real Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday. And there was little in their performance against Brighton yesterday to give them any encouragement they can turn things around after losing the first leg 2-0.
This was instead another deflating, dispiriting occasion for Chelsea in a season full of them. One against a club they have attempted to take the best from in the last year but still remain some way off — on and off the pitch. A damning indictment.
With co-controlling owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali among the members of Chelsea hierarchy watching, the latter seemingly on the receiving end of fan frustration, all they saw was more from Brighton that they would no doubt have admired and wanted.
Chelsea were comprehensively outplayed on their own pitch and such was Brighton’s dominance that not even the changes made by Frank Lampard with the Madrid return in mind could represent much mitigation for such a disjointed display devoid of much inspiration.
It’s important to stress just how good Brighton were. They were brilliant and that should be acknowledged before getting to the equally obvious point that Chelsea were laughably awful. Scorelines can be the great deceiver: this was 2-1 going on five or six.
That’s 11 defeats in his last 12 games as a manager for Frank Lampard and seven in his last 10 league games with Chelsea. All he has to do next is inspire a comeback from 2-0 down against Real Madrid. Good luck.
Brighton, masters of the cleverly sourced bargain, may have done it again. The contrast to the Chelsea model is almost too stark to be worth elucidating.
Given there was no sign the dressing room had turned on Graham Potter – drifted away from him, perhaps, started to harbour vague doubts, maybe, but despised him, no – the only possible explanation for parting ways with him when they did was that they believed they had somebody more likely to beat Madrid in the Champions League. And if no less an authority than James Corden believes Lampard to be that manager, who really can argue?
But you do wonder why Lampard has made no attempt to use either of his two league games in charge to prepare for Real Madrid. The 4-3-3 he used against Wolves last week returned, although this was a starting XI featuring only five of the same starters as at Molineux, and only five starters from Wednesday’s tepid defeat at the Bernabeu. Take the pieces, throw them in the air, let them fall where they may.
When Lampard made a quadruple substitution in the 57th minute, it was hard to know whether it was desperation or an exercise in managing minutes before Tuesday’s second leg. That confusion perhaps in part explained what a shambles this was for Chelsea.
But then shambles is the Boehly way. Whatever Lampard’s shortcomings as a manager the situation is, if not impossible, then not far off.
Chelsea are like buying a 1,000-piece jigsaw only to find there are 2,500 pieces in the box and it’s the wrong picture on the cover. It doesn’t matter if some of the extra pieces are gold-plated or studded with diamonds, it’s still a confusing mess.
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